Red Carnation
by Saberpilot
Summary: One-shot. Vash the Stampede has fought many battles in the name of Love and Peace. Will he win the one war for Meryl Strife, amid troubles with his brother Millions Knives?


A/N: This took the better part of a year and a half to tie together completely. I had an idea for an after- "Under the Sky so Blue" fic kicking around since the first time I'd seen Trigun, which was nearly three years ago now. I finally got the plot and the feel of this story together once I figured out that I didn't want this to be an _unbelievable_ Vash and Meryl story- especially when it came to the other subject, Millions Knives.  
  
So, I let this piece write itself. Took me a long time, but I think, like a fine wine, it was worth it.

* * *

On the planet Gunsmoke, there lived a man, a monster, a legend. They called him Vash the Stampede, Vash the Demon, and the the Humanoid Typhoon. He had many adventures and many epic battles in which many died; friends and foes alike.  
  
However, upon all his travels, there was only two things that this man searched for; Love and Peace.  
  
"And I tell You, the greatest of all these things is Love." -unknown scripture

* * *

He laid himself out on the bed, overlooking the quiet serenity that seemed to brush by his window. Things had sure quieted down by now in the town- there was little remaining to show that Vash the Stampede had ever set foot in this town; let alone that he ever existed. The blonde man pushed a few stray hairs away from his tan forebrow, then sighed. If only things had gone differently; if only Wolfwood was still-  
  
The gunner stopped in his train of thought, and swallowed. No matter what kind of person Nicholas D. Wolfwood had thought himself, inside, he'd been a good man, up until the very end. Vash remembered feeling the priest going out and confronting his childhood mentor and tormentor; felt his flesh torn as he was betrayed not by his mentor, but by Legato.  
  
Vash heard a murmur next to him in the small room that he'd rented for himself and... him. Even though Knives wasn't the brother he'd known growing up, he was all he had left. Knives was just as much the last of Rem's legacy as he was; albeit a side that Rem probably hadn't wanted people to see. The animalistic, the rampaging- the dark side of human, or in Knives' case, Plant nature.  
  
"What time is it, brother?"  
  
Vash turned to see his brother's slightly agitated face looking across the room at his. The white hair appeared dissheveled from weeks of bed rest. Never mind what his brother said, never mind how much he pleaded... Vash was not going to let him regenerate the way he had in the past. A few weeks ago, he'd gone back to the home of the Gung Ho Guns, finding his brother's chambers.  
  
What he'd found there had been most disturbing.  
  
Chains and metallic stakes had been hung throughout his private chambers, making the blonde gunner wince, knowing pretty well how many people had been tortured there. As he had cleaned out his brother's only personal belongings, the blonde had sworn he had nearly heard Rem's voice among those echoing their death screams in the chambers.  
  
The rest of Knives' old home had been burned to a crisp, Vash watching as his brother's various toys of torture and his old chambers went up in flames. His blue eyes had closed in a silent prayer, then he'd turned around and walked back to the small town where he had left Knives and the two girls.  
  
"Well, what time is it?"  
  
"It's time for you to stop being such a pain," Vash responded to his brother's plaintive questioning. "It's time for you to stop seeing the world around you as a thing to conquest, and instead see it as an opportunity to live in Rem's vision of a world." The gunner sat up, then finally moved his feet from the end of his bed to the floor, stretching as he stood up, taking in the sun's rays.  
  
"Why should I want to live in a world where all the humans drain our brothers and sisters of energy to live? Why, Vash?" The white-haired man responded, sitting up, propping his arms as he did. The strength had returned to them finally after two weeks of therapy and bed rest, but they would never again hold their own capacity for feats that Knives had performed before. "Why should I even want to live? I should just tear out my throat and die a carcass on this pathetic excuse for a planet. Then I could go be with your pathetic Rem- maybe I'd even see her in hell-"  
  
"NO!" The blonde turned to look at his brother, his composure broken through for a moment. "No, you wouldn't, Knives. Rem was nothing like you."  
  
"Was is the key word there, brother."  
  
Looking out the window, Vash could see the tiny town that they'd come to slowly awakening, lengthening and stretching its tendrils of life. People shuffled from their homes, complaining about the early time of day, while children played ball in the streets. He turned to look at his white-haired flesh and blood.  
  
"I know that, Knives," he whispered quietly. "Every day in the past one hundred thirty years I have not forgotten that fact. And I haven't forgotten why she wasn't here with us, either."  
  
"So you're going to lecture me again," the man said, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you'd gotten past this. So I killed her. And all those people on those ships. Do you honestly think that I should feel something for them? They were just measley spiders, Vash, spiders. And why do we hate spiders, Vash?"  
  
"These people on this planet aren't spiders, Knives."  
  
"Oh, but they are- look at the way they weave their webs over the land. Look at the way they use our kind for energy and living. They only live here because our kind exist, Vash, and you know it. If it weren't for that stupid thing that Rem did, we'd be kings here, Vash- you and I. We'd be all alone, brothers and heirs to an entire planet. We would have even found some way to collect our drifting sisters in space, founded a whole race of our kind-"  
  
"No."  
  
"What? Vash, you aren't serious? Even after all they've done to you, after all the supposed friends you thought you made of their kind, you still think that we can live with them in peace?"  
  
Vash smiled, a slightly happy grin, the first that he'd really worn since Wolfwood was slain by his brother's apprentice.  
  
"I am serious, brother. And I don't care how long it takes, I'm going to show you that we can live together with their kind in peace." He stretched once more, then walked over to a table where he had set his black bodysuit and red trenchcoat last night before retiring. "In the meantime, do you think you can get up and about enough to feed yourself and take care of yourself today?"  
  
"When are you going to introduce her to me?"  
  
Vash nearly stopped buckling one of his many various buckles that ran up his right boot. "Who do you mean, Knives?"  
  
"The girl whose name you say besides Rem's whenever you're asleep."  
  
"Meryl..." Vash whispered aloud, then continued to fasten his boots all the way up to the knees, finally picking up his gloves and placing them on, one hand at a time. "I don't know that I ever want her to meet you, Knives. You may be my brother, and I may know how to act around you, knowing that you're in no condition to ever do to others what you've done to them before, but... she doesn't. All she's got to go on is what's happened in the past, and that's not exactly who I want her to know you for."  
  
"Who do you want her to know me for, Vash?"  
  
The man reached for his red coat before answering, pulling it over a shoulder. "That's up to you, Knives. I can't make you into someone you don't want to be; I can only offer you another way than the way you've been living."  
  
"Heh," the white-haired man said. "I suppose I can get around today, Vash. Don't be late or I may change my mind about not killing the people in this town."  
  
"I love you too, brother."

* * *

Not stopping to look back at the man, Vash opened the door and walked through it, shutting the door behind it. He walked down the stairs that railed their way down to the main doorway of the small apartment house that he had rented out for himself and Knives. As he walked out, he happened to see Mrs. Cleary, the manager of the place.  
  
"You good on this next week's rent, sonny?"  
  
The gunner turned around and gave the woman one of his goofy trademark grins. "Yes I am, Miss, I get my paycheck today. I'll pay you for next week and the week after next when I get it- can't be too careful about paying for a place to live around here, can you?"  
  
"No, no you can't, sonny," the woman smiled genially at him. She pushed a paper bag to him across the counter that she'd been standing at. "Here, some extra doughnuts that I whipped up this morning. My husband can't eat them all, so I thought you'd like some. Think of them as a thank-you for being so good about paying the rent. Not all our tenants are so nice about it."  
  
"Why thank you, Miss," the gunner smiled, answering. "I'll be sure to enjoy these- see you later!"  
  
As the man walked out the door, he smiled to himself as he heard Mrs. Cleary mutter, "If I only had a daughter to hook up with him- what a perfect pair they'd be. Oh well, age settled too fast for me to have kids anyways." Vash slightly grimaced at the last idea, still not comfortable with the idea of having a relationship with Meryl- hell, there was another thing he had no one to talk to about...

* * *

"When is that needle-noggin going to get here? If he doesn't show up soon, he's going to be late to work," a black-haired woman said, looking around and then at the clock that stood in the middle of town. "I am not bailing him out if he's late. I mean it."  
  
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it, sempai," a large brunette woman said to her, holding a brown bag close to her side. "Mr. Vash won't be late. He's been really good about coming on time to work these last couple days. I'd almost say that he's settled down now that he has his brother under control."  
  
"Settled down? HA!" Meryl said, a smirk. "Hell, no. That man has been nothing but jumpy around me ever since he brought that white-haired freak back with him a few weeks ago. I swear, it's almost like he's gotten more nervous since he brought him back. I know he said that he had him under crontrol, it's just that-"  
  
"You're worried about him, right, Meryl?" The woman continued for her.  
"No. No I'm not, Millie," the woman said, looking down. "It's just that he's been through so much..."  
  
"I'm sure everything will be all right- you'll see!" the other woman brightened up. "Things that always seem bad have a habit of becoming okay; at least, that's what my big-big sister used to say."  
  
"You and your family, Millie..." The raven-haired woman shook her head, then proceeded to walk towards their current place of employment.  
  
"HEY, WAIT FOR MEEEE!" A voice yelled from the distance, and Meryl turned to see a red-clad man running like an idiot towards the two women. The black-haired woman sighed, then put her hands on her hips.  
  
"Well, FINALLY," she said, watching as the man stopped to catch his breath, panting as he looked up at the two women. He then stood up and gave a rather large victory sign.  
  
"I'm on time, aren't I?"  
  
"Barely," Meryl said, snorting derision. The taller woman smiled and clapped her hands.  
  
"Yes you are, Mr. Vash! Good job!" Millie responded, smiling. "Now we have plenty of time to get to work! Oh-" she saw Vash's horde of pastries, "Can I have one?"  
  
"Sure!" The gunner held out his bag of doughnuts, and the taller woman took one of the proffered pastries, smiling. "They sure are good- my landlady gave them to me, nice woman that she is," the gunner happily said, munching on one of the forementioned desserts.  
  
"That IS nice, Mr. Vash," Millie replied, then walked alongside the man, then glanced down at Meryl. "Would you like a doughnut, Meryl? I'm sure he wouldn't mind sharing."  
  
"I'm not hungry," the raven-haired woman replied, crossing her arms. "And we should get going to work, remember?"  
  
"Okay, okay," Vash said, waving the black-haired woman back. "We'll get to work already. It's just that I had to take care of Knives before I left-"  
  
"How long are you going to take care of him, Vash?" Meryl said, turning and stopping. Her dark eyes looked up into his pale blue, her expression one of mixed anger and... jealousy? She placed her hands on her hips, then looked up at him. "He is a full grown man. Yes, he may have been hurt, but from what you've told us, he can get around pretty well now. He can feed himself, can't he? So what's there to be afraid of?"  
  
"It's not his health I'm worried about," Vash murmured, his head slightly turned to the dusty ground. "I'm worried about him and what he's going to do with the rest of his life here. I'm not about to let him squander it away by doing nothing... but it's better than him going out and doing what he did before..." He stopped short, realizing that he was being too serious for the two, and straightened up, saluting them both.  
  
"Huh?" both the girls asked.  
  
"So, what are we doing today, captains? More water-moving? Or perhaps some..." Vash smiled as he noticed a very pretty woman stroll by, "Or... heart-moving?"  
  
Meryl sighed, then shook her head, crossing her arms. "No matter what, you never change, do you, Vash the Stampede? Still a womanizing, doughnut-loving, late-to-work, lazy bum." Vash looked at her with his piercing blue eyes and feigned a heart attack.  
  
"Oh! It hurts! It hurts!"  
  
"You two," Millie giggled, watching the duo 'bat' it out. "I swear, why don't you two just settle down and get married already?"  
  
The duo turned to the brunette, Meryl with such an angry expression that it might have turned one to stone, Vash with one of feigned ignorance.  
  
"MILLIE-" Meryl started, only to see Vash running up ahead of them, smiling and chipper. She placed a hand to her black-haired head and shook it, then pulled Millie aside. "Millie- I haven't... I haven't told him yet. How I feel, I mean."  
  
"And why not?" The brunette asked. "I know he likes you!"  
  
"I don't know, Millie," Meryl said, holding a finger to her chin in thought. "He does seem awful worried about me sometimes, but I don't know if that's because he cares in general, or that he cares about me as more than a... friend."  
  
"That's just it," Millie replied, smiling. "Deep down, he really cares about you, he's just too shy to say anything."  
  
"If you say so, Millie," the shorter of the two said, "But- I wouldn't hold my breath. Look at Mr. Faithful right now-" she said, pointing out Vash, who was currently talking to a young brunette.  
  
"It's just his way," Millie responded. "But... suit yourself, Meryl." With that, the taller woman walked over to the check-in booth and placed a hard hat on her head. Meryl stalked over to where Vash was and held a fist out for him to see.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?"  
  
"Oh, hello, Meryl- I'm just seeing if Miss Lacille would like to go out with us on lunch break," the Stampede answered, all signs of the thoughtful Vash she'd seen earlier gone.  
  
He changes faces so often, Meryl thought to herself. I wonder which is the real him...?  
  
"I don't think so, Mister- You promised Millie and me that we'd go out to lunch on your tab!"  
  
"Oh." Vash thought a moment, then snapped his fingers. "So I did! But you don't mind if Miss Lacille makes it four, do you? I have something very important I have to talk to her about."  
  
"Fine. But if she's coming, I'm not," the black-haired woman said, storming off. Vash scratched the back of his forehead, embarrassed.  
  
"So she doesn't know, I assume?" Miss Lacille asked the former gunner. She watched as the woman kicked a nearby wooden box, her own eyebrows becoming raised as it became apparent of how angry the girl actually... was.  
  
"I'm guessing not," Vash agreed, oblivious to Miss Lacille's knowing gaze. "But- she'll get over it. It worked out okay, because I just realized how hard it'd be to talk to you about... the thing with her around."  
  
"But isn't she going to hate you for going out to lunch with me and not her?"  
  
"Well, I don't know. But I guess I'll just have to live with it!"  
  
"You love her, don't you?"  
  
A moment of silence passed, and Vash smiled towards the sand dunes of planet Gunsmoke. "Yes. Yes I do. She reminds me of someone I lost a long time ago... and this time, I don't want to lose that someone again."  
  
"She's a lucky woman, then," Lacille proclaimed. "I remember a time when you were still up for sixty million double dollars to the first person who caught you, dead or alive-"  
  
"Shh," Vash said, holding a gloved finger to his lips. "There are still people out there who would try to get that reward. And although I know you, Meryl, and Millie wouldn't, I'm still not one hundred percent trusting of the people around here."  
  
"I understand," the woman said, standing up. "Well then, everything's settled! I'll see you at lunchtime, Mr. Vash the Stampede," she smiled, walking away.  
  
"I wish people would stop calling me that," the red-jacketed man said, standing up and walking over to the check-in booth. "I don't want to be chased by bounty hunters anymore, remember...?"

* * *

"So, how did your lunch break go?" Meryl asked the gunner when he returned from his outing with Miss Lacille. "Did you have a lot of fun?"  
  
"Yes, yes I did," Vash admitted, scratching the back of his head and smiling. "But it still would have been nice if you and Millie had joined us-"  
  
"I told you I wasn't going to eat with you if that brunette was going, and I meant it!" Meryl said, shifting the work helmet on her head. Irrigation of the town's water was grueling, but satisfying work.  
  
"Okay, okay," Vash said, placing his hands out in front of him in mock fear. "I understand!" He looked down at the woman, his expression unreadable, then a twinge of regret passed. He smiled with mock happiness, then walked off towards the irrigation site.  
  
Meryl saw the moment, and was about to ask about it, but was stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Millie! Let me go after him-"  
  
"And why do you want to go after him, Meryl? Is it because you like Mr. Vash?"  
  
"Well I-" the black-haired woman paused, then looked down. "You know how I feel, but I still haven't told him. Now I'm not even certain that he likes me- he did go out to lunch with that woman-"  
  
"You're too suspicious, Meryl," Millie pointed out, smiling. "Mr. Vash isn't as bad as you think he is- you should give him more credit."  
  
Meryl smiled. "Yeah, he is pretty reliable... and caring. He's got a good heart, and I-" she stopped, then proceeded to hit herself on the noggin, trying to escape the moment of self-portrayed weakness. She turned to look at Millie, her hands balled up into fists.  
  
"But he still went out to lunch with that woman!"  
  
"Now, now, Meryl, your jealousy is showing!"  
  
The raven-haired woman frothed with agitation at her friend, then fell back, sulking. "I'm not jealous."  
  
"Okay, Meryl, whatever you say," Millie smiled, walking away from her shorter friend with a wide grin on her face.  
  
"You've returned," an acidic voice spoke to the red-clad man that entered the room in which it drawled from.  
  
"Yes. Yes I have," Vash the Stampede happily answered his brother. He grinned, then proceeded to whistle as he took off his red jacket and hung it up. A high-pitched tune left his pursed lips, and he winked as he pulled out a small black box from his right jacket pocket.  
  
"Vash, what's inside that box?" Knives asked, eyeing the box with what almost seemed like jealousy.  
  
"A ring," Vash answered happily. "Something that you put on your finger and-"  
  
"Vash, why would you need something you'd put on your finger? Why would you need this... ring?"  
  
"...it's not for me," The blonde gunner responded, opening the box to reveal the item he'd purchased. Asking Lacille to make it for him had cost him a pretty penny, but it was worth it. Especially since it was for her.  
  
"Not for you? What, did you go out and buy ME a ring, Vash? Stupid."  
  
"It's not for you, either. It's for-"  
  
"Let me guess. This... Meryl person."  
  
"Knives, how did you-"  
  
"We're brothers, Vash. And not just any brothers. Plant brothers." Knives tapped the side of his head. "You should know better than anyone that you can't keep a secret from me."  
  
"Rings... to humans, Knives, rings are a symbol of someone's utter devotion to that one specific person. I plan to give this to Meryl to ask her... to marry me."  
  
"I forbid it." Knives' eyes were wild with rage. "Vash, being around those stupid spiders has made you go soft in the head. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard- marrying, first off. Why would you ever want to devote yourself to one person? Secondly, it won't work just because of the laws of nature. Vash, you're an immortal Plant. Perfect, handsome, better than anything those swine could throw at you. Not only that, but has it ever occurred to you that you'll outlive her? That while she grows weaker and frailer, you'll be the same strong man that she once knew and will always know?"  
  
"SHUT UP!" Vash yelled, throwing all the rage currently in his heart towards his brother. "I love her, DAMN IT- Rem finally came back to me! And mortal or not, old or young, damn it, I'm not going to lose her this time. Get it?"  
  
Knives blinked, then placed his hand to his face, where he felt a wetness creeping down his cheek. "Vash, I-"  
  
Vash gritted his teeth and shook his head. "I'm not going to lose Meryl. Never."  
  
With that, the gunner left his brother behind, still holding a hand to his face in shock.  
  
Never. He could never get Knives to understand humanity, no matter how much he migh try. He stormed off towards the desert, searching for somewhere he could sit and meditate.

* * *

This... wetness that creeped down the side of his face. Where had it come from? Knives used an index finger to trace the source of the dampness and raised it to his face.  
  
A tear. That's what these spiders called it. A dampness, a wetness that creeped down one's cheek whenever one of those creatures was upset. Why was this wetness coming down the sides of his face, then, if only spiders were disgusting enough to produce such filth?  
  
Knives came to a stunning realization. He was... he was beginning to act like Vash. Like one of those stupid, God-awful humans. He had been so shocked at Vash's coolness, his unrationalizing emotions, that his own emotions had taken ahold of him, and now, here he was... with these tears.  
  
Tears. He'd never shed tears before this. Not even when Vash had shot him that first time. Not when he'd lost the Gung-Ho guns, one by one, not that they were worth any of his time or tears. He hadn't even cried when he'd lost to his brother- so why was he crying now?  
  
Could it be that the madness that was humanity was finally starting to spread into himself? That he had started to show signs of the disease known as emotion? Knives felt another wetness creep down his face. Then another.  
  
No. He could not let this contagion spread any further. He had to return. Return to his original state as the pure Plant that he'd once been. Forget this planet. Forget Rem. Forget everything that he'd ever once known that had made him weak.  
  
If only he could do the same to Vash. Make his brother also forget everything. Then he and Knives could find their Eden- forget humanity and make a new world just for themselves and their kind.  
  
Knives felt another tear creep down his cheek. Forget. Forget it all. Another wetness. Forget. Forget everything...

* * *

That damn man. He'd somehow wormed his way into her thoughts again. Meryl pushed the typewriter away from herself, sighing as she did. No matter what, she would sooner or later have to face the fact that she was, indeed, severely infatuated with the man. Because there was no way that she could be in love with him. Absolutely no way. After all, what kind of girl would fall in love with a blonde needle-noggined man who was wanted dead or alive for sixty billion double dollars?  
  
She would.  
  
"Stupid blonde headed- needle-noggined- idiotic-"  
  
"Meryl, are you thinking about him aloud again?" Millie asked from her end of the office. The raven-haired woman placed both her hands over her mouth and turned scarlet. Her tall partner smiled. "You are, aren't you?"  
  
"No."  
  
"You're lying, Meryl," Millie smiled, shaking her finger at the black-haired woman. "Why don't you just tell him how you feel? I'm sure Mr. Vash feels the same way-"  
  
"Don't tell me about love, Millie," Meryl said, sighing and placing her head in her hands. "I've about had my fill. But why, Millie... why did I have to fall for the most lame-brained idiot on all of planet Gunsmoke? Let alone the most infamous!"  
  
"Because Mr. Vash is a good man, Meryl," Millie said, standing up and walking to her partner. Seconds past, and suddenly the shorter woman heard china clinking in front of her. She looked up to see a cup of tea cooling in front of her. She looked to her left to see Millie standing there.  
  
"You need to calm down, Meryl. Mr. Vash is a good man, I know it. And as much as you like him, I know that he likes you. So why don't you just tell him?"  
  
"It's... it's not that simple, Millie," Meryl said, taking the china teacup into her hands. She blew on it, then took a sip. She set it back down and stared into its brown depths. "I- I've never felt this way about any man, and I- I don't know if it's the real thing or if I'm just infatuated with him. And I'm too afraid to find out."  
  
"I wouldn't let it sit for long, Meryl," Millie said, suddenly turning and heading torwards the doorway. "If you do, you might... you might not ever get another chance," she said, her back turned. She then quickly disappeared out the doorway, tears streaming.  
  
"Millie..." The raven-haired woman felt tears filling her eyes, and she placed her head in her hands. Vash, Millie, herself... she just kept on hurting people because she couldn't tell them how she felt. Millie was her dearest friend, her closest comrade, and she still hadn't told her this fact. And if she didn't... If she didn't tell Vash- she might lose both of them.  
  
Lose Vash... the thought was almost unthinkable. To not see his blonde, needle-noggined head everywhere that she least expected it- to see his kind expression cheering her up, cheering her on. To not be near him...  
  
Meryl placed a hand against her chest, feeling her heart beat as though it might pop out of her chest. She- she had to tell him. Had to tell him. Had to tell him how much she cherished him- how much she cared for him before- before she lost him. Before she lost him forever.  
  
The raven-haired woman stood up quickly and reached for her cloak, then rushed out the door.  
  
Vash. She had to find him.

* * *

Millie watched as her partner rushed out into the street, running towards the left side of town. Meryl hadn't noticed the brown-haired woman watching her leave, and she was glad.  
  
Glad for Meryl, that was.  
  
She couldn't begrudge the woman any happiness that came into her life. She certainly had already had her share, however short, with Nicholas. The woman sighed, holding it inside.  
  
She missed him. Oh, God, she missed him. His gentle smile, his warm embrace... his dry sense of humor and sarcastic grins. She missed everything about him.  
  
Millie almost wished she'd become pregnant from that time she'd been with him- she could have had at least a part of him with her for always. However, fate had already determined her path.  
  
The brown-haired woman sighed, placing her head in her palm and looking out the window, past Meryl's line of flight. The sun was setting in the west, past the dry ground that enclosed the little town they'd been living in for the past few months. If she concentrated enough... no.  
  
No, she was losing it.  
  
She retracted her hand from supporting her head and pulled it close to her chest. She was forgetting him... not forgetting the essence that was him, but the little things- the curve of his nose, or how much sugar he liked in his coffee.  
  
It was that which was the greatest loss besides him.  
  
Millie'd been keeping herself busy for a long time now, darting and running from the fear that she'd had- that she was betraying his memory by beginning to forget him, to not be able to recall him....  
  
She held her arms against her bosom, wishing for something... someone, that could ease this pain in her heart. She'd wanted a love, long ago, but now that the love she'd had was gone... she could settle for a friendship.  
  
In point of fact, that's what she needed- and not just the friendship that Meryl provided. The kind of friendship she needed was from one who had also been hurt, and needed to heal- so that they could heal together.  
  
Millie continued to ponder this for a moment longer, until a loud noise awoke her from her self-inflection. Startled, she jumped up and turned around, only to see a familiar blonde-haired man panting before her.  
  
"Millie..." He gasped for air between the words, "where... is Meryl?"  
  
Millie blinked, then shook her head. "I- She went off to find you, Mr. Vash. She ran off that way-" she pointed down the street, back towards the apartment complex that Vash stayed in. "She just ran down there a few minutes ago-"  
  
"She went off... to find me?" Vash blinked, his breath nearly recovered. Millie nodded.  
  
The red-jacketed gunman sighed and placed his head in a black-gloved hand. "Damn it. I just missed her. And I wanted to-"  
  
"You wanted to what, Mr. Vash?"  
  
He took his hand down from his face and looked up into her honest, open face. "I- Millie, can you... oh, nevermind. You'd know soon anyways, whether it went the one way or the other," he said, and pulled out a small box from his left jacket pocket. He held it out to her.  
  
"What's this?" She asked, and opened the box, then gasped. "Mr. Vash- is this what I think it is?" Millie's throat was tight, and her expression was nearly unreadable.  
  
He nodded. "It's for Meryl, if I can ever find her. Millie... be honest. Do you think she-"  
  
The brown-haired woman began to cry, however, and Vash stopped his questions, kneeling in front of her. "Millie, what-"  
  
The woman stopped her outburst of tears, however, and gave the Stampede a weak smile. "I think- she'll love it, Mr. Vash. She'll love it very much."  
  
"Millie?"  
  
The woman sniffled once more, hiding her tears behind the brush of a hand. Vash looked downward, and realized the reason for her tears, all the while rueing ever coming over here. All it seemed he did nowadays- ever, it seemed, was cause people pain.  
  
He felt, however, a hand on his shoulder, and the man looked up to see a hand holding out a familiar box. Seconds later, Millie was standing up and putting on her jacket.  
  
"Wha-" The blonde man blinked.  
  
"I'm coming with you, Vash. If I can't have my own happiness... then at least I can watch my best friend find hers," Millie said, all traces of her earlier unhappiness untraceable. Vash blinked, and held out a hand to her, standing up.  
  
"You know-"  
  
"Vash, there's nothing you can do," Millie said, serious in her voice's inflection. "He's gone, and I- I have to stop trying to run from that fact. I have to grow, and I won't be able to do that if I can't find some happiness, whether it be my friends' or my own," the woman ran on before Vash could interject.  
  
The blonde-haired gunner smiled at Millie's attempts at trying to remain conversational amid her personal confessions. He placed his parcel carefully back into his jacket pocket and waited for Millie to make herself ready. He walked out of the doorway and waited for her outside the room.  
  
A few minutes later, she was smiling and waiting for Vash at the doorway. She grinned and laughed.  
  
"Well, we'd better hurry if we want to find Meryl- it'll be dark soon, after all-"  
  
"Millie," Vash started, then stopped and smiled when the woman turned to look at him. "Nothing... let's go."  
  
"Okay then!" She smiled and leaded the Stampede back towards where he lived, her steps lively.

* * *

"Where is that needle-noggin?" Meryl complained aloud, crossing her arms and stomping one foot impatiently. "I come to the area I think he lives, and he's nowhere in sight!" She laughed then, a low-key, sarcastic laugh.  
  
"Serves you right, Meryl Strife. Serves you right for thinking that you could just tell him how you felt without thinking it through. That's what you get for your impulsiveness."  
  
Suddenly a rather mellow voice came into her range of hearing. "...Meryl Strife, you said?"  
  
"Yes, how did you-" The black-haired woman started, then turned to face the owner of the voice, it belonging to that of the woman she'd seen earlier with Vash, the 'Miss Lacille'. She was sitting at a small table in front of a nearby inn.  
  
"Oh. It's you."  
  
"Quite the touchy one, aren't you?"  
  
"What do you want?" the insurance girl asked, crossing her arms and then turning away from her. The other woman laughed softly and smiled.  
  
"You really are something. I can see why he likes you."  
  
"Wha- He as in... as in Vash, right?" The woman nodded, and Meryl blinked at the woman. "What are you talking about? Didn't he go out to lunch with you because-"  
  
"Because he likes me? Ha!" the woman laughed, holding up a hand to her mouth. "That needle-headed idiot? He's more like a little troublemaker than a romantic interest," she chuckled. "He and I met a while back whenever our town had a bit of a run-in with him... you might say that our entire town was after him for the bounty, but we settled on another bounty to raise money- he was actually the one who stopped it," she reminisced.  
  
Shaking her head, she came back into the present. "In any case, I met him a few days after that. You see, my sister... well, my sister's in... a special kind of trade-"  
  
"She's a whore, you mean?" Meryl queried, raising an eyebrow in disapproval. Miss Lacille coughed, then hid an embarrassed expression behind her palm. The black-haired woman strode up to where she was sitting, and sat down herself.  
  
"Well, since you put it that way..." she started, then waved off Meryl's concern whenever the insurance woman realized that she might have been a little abrupt. "She... she is in that of business, yes," Lacille admitted, looking down for a minute. "But- no matter. I was going to tell you about how we met. In any case, my sister told me the one day that she was going to try and..." she coughed, "repay him for taking care of the Nebraska family."  
  
"Wait- you're from... you were in the town that the Nebraska family was caught?" Meryl asked, her eyes wide. "That means-"  
  
Lacille smiled. "I remember you, yes. And from that time, it had occurred to me that he might like you. After all, if he really needs to disappear, he can- and he didn't. I think it's because he wanted you to find him- even when he disappeared for those two years... he came back," she smiled. "In any case... he and I ran into each other in one of the bars after some of the celebrations. We talked, and... well, it just seemed like he was the younger brother I'd never had. So, we kept in touch. And when he needed some of my services, well..."  
  
"Services?" Meryl asked. Lacille nodded, giving a wry grin. She then raised her eyebrows, and nodded towards the space behind her. The raven-haired woman turned to see an almost out-of-breath Vash and Millie behind her, the Stampede panting for breath.  
  
"Go to him," the woman pushed Meryl. When the woman started to object, Lacille gave her a stern look.  
  
"Go to him before I push you out there," she smirked.  
  
Meryl stood up, looking at the woman before she left. "Thanks," she whispered, then ran away from the table. Lacille grinned, then looked towards the nearly-set sun.  
  
"Godspeed, Meryl Strife," she smiled. "May you find your own happiness."

* * *

"Where is that idiot?" Knives queried to no one in particular, feeling very alone at this moment in time. The sun was nearly set, and his brother still hadn't returned. The white-haired Plant grew agitated.  
  
He hadn't liked the reaction his brother had instigated in himself earlier. Crying was not an act that should be performed by a Plant- it was a weak human trait.  
  
Why, then... why should he have that reaction? Why did Vash incur these feelings inside him? Was he... could he possibly be jealous? Of Vash's being able to interact with others? With those... humans?  
  
No. It just wasn't possible. Humans were weak, they were underclass when compared to Plants. Why, then... why did it seem as though he wanted to interact with them? It wasn't like him at all...  
  
Could it be, that even the most powerful Plant, Knives... was lonely?  
  
He grunted. No way. There was absolutely no way that he could be lonely. He was superior, after all, and superior beings didn't need to rely on lower forms of creation and entities for company. They only needed other superior beings for company.  
  
...but he and Vash were the only Plants he knew of that were free to relate to others... and that meant that they were the only two of their kind on the planet, for this moment.  
  
Did that mean that... that Vash could have been right, long ago? That humans were the only form of real company he'd find on this planet, that he was wrong to have... Rem...  
  
Knives's eyes grew wide, his baby blue irises pale against their white surroundings. There had been one human... at one time, he'd liked. Before the others on the SEEDS ship... before he'd been... before they'd-  
  
Knives placed his head in his hands. Vash had been right... Vash HAD been right... Rem had honestly cared about him and Vash... and she'd been a human. Maybe- maybe all his hatred came from that long-ago incident, that long ago time when he'd still been a child upon the SEEDs ship.  
  
Maybe he'd made a... mistake?  
  
The white-haired man fought these new thoughts in his mind against all he already knew; it felt as though the bottom of his mind had fallen, leaving him empty in what to believe. But... he had to change. He knew animals changed; it was one of their survival instincts that allowed them to adapt and continue to flourish.  
  
But he wasn't an animal, he was a Plant.  
  
Was it still possible for him to change?  
  
Rem had said long ago, that everyone deserved a chance at life. Did that include him and Vash? It had to have, now that he pondered it. And that last cryptic message she'd given Vash- "take care of Knives"... did it mean that she wanted Vash to help him find this truth, or at least this truth that she had held?  
  
No- it couldn't be... she'd seen what he was like, KNOWN that it had been him who had caused the SEEDS ships to land on the planet. It must've been an order for Vash to kill Knives.  
  
Then why hadn't he?  
  
The question burned in his mind as he idly waited for his brother to return. After a point, he stood up, his legs stronger than they'd been a few weeks ago. He knew that Vash would probably yell at him for getting up, but he didn't care. He had to have the answer to the question. He had to know.  
  
Step by careful step, Millions Knives walked out of his bedroom and towards the stairs that would lead him into town.  
  
He hoped Vash had some time on his hands.

* * *

"Vash!" Meryl cried as she ran towards him and Milly. She stopped short of him, standing a few feet in front of him. The man looked physically drained, as though he'd ran a thousand isles. She took a step forward as though to help him, but something stopped her once again.  
  
"Meryl!" Milly happily cried, rushing forward and enveloping her best friend in a hug. She crushed the smaller woman's backbone, then stepped back and happily grinned. "We've been looking all over for you!"  
  
"And I've been looking for you-" Meryl smiled back, wincing a bit from her friend's embrace. Her face turned pink at the sight of Vash. "I- I mean-"  
  
"Yes, Meryl?" Milly innocently asked. Her face then widened into a grin and she winked at Meryl. "Oh, I know what you mean. Here- he's been looking for you, you know," she said, giving the white-clad woman a slight push to the Stampede, who barely caught her in his still-exhausted arms.  
  
"Um..." he blinked down at her, unsure of what to say since she'd caught him by surprise. "Hi, Meryl."  
  
"Hi, Vash," she answered, looking up into his blue eyes. Her breath was taken away as she stood in his arms, not knowing exactly what to say to him.  
  
They stood like this for a moment, staring into each others' eyes with what seemed like the most perfect unity in the world. After a few seconds of this, though, Meryl felt her cheeks burning red, and she stepped away from the red-clad Stampede.  
  
"You- you wanted to see me?" Meryl asked the man, who smiled with that goofy grin that made her heart do a somersault in her chest.  
  
"Y-yeah," Vash agreed. He looked about him, as though he was searching for some sort of prop or staging, then laughed nervously, scratching the back of his pointy-haired head. After his moment of panic, he looked down on the ground and haphazardly kneeled, looking up to face Meryl.  
  
"Vash?" she asked him, her cheeks still pink. "What- what are you doing?"  
  
"Got to get this right, needle-noggin," the Stampede hissed underneath his breath. Meryl blinked.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nothing-" he started, then shook his head. "No, not nothing. This isn't coming out right-" he paused, then shook his head. "Got to-" He bit his teeth together, and looked up at Meryl, carefully taking her hand into his.  
  
"Meryl, I know- I'm not what you'd call, well..." he laughed nervously, "the perfect guy, or anything like that, but-" he reached underneath his left side strap and pulled out what looked like a tin box. Holding it with a slightly shaking hand, he opened it and looked into Meryl's eyes.  
  
"What I mean to say is... will you, um... stay with me- marry me?"  
  
Meryl looked down into the tin box for a moment, and her eyes went wide. A thin gold band held what looked like a multi-layered red jewel on top of it. Upon closer inspection, Meryl could see that the jewel was actually several little jewels, lined up delicately to form what looked like a flower. She opened her mouth to ask, and Vash answered.  
  
"A carnation-" he blurted out, his cheeks turning pink from his super-heightened nervousness. "It was a favorite of Rem's- you remember, I told you about Rem?" She nodded. "Well, she told me about it when I was really little. And in the language of flowers-" he gulped, "A red carnation is a symbol of determination."  
  
He went on. "I mean, I know that you and Milly went through hell trying to find me, and when I think of all the times that you could've given up, and- well, all the things you went through to just do your job and everything, I mean, I thought that a ruby carnation would just-"  
  
"I will."  
  
Vash stopped, blinking. He looked up at the woman he had come to love so much because of her familiar spirit and her caring heart. "You- you what?"  
  
"I will marry you, Vash the Stampede," Meryl whispered, bending down and placing her hand on the box he carried as she leaned forward into a passionate kiss. Vash was more surprised than anything at first, but after a moment, he joined into it. The joy in him was evident from the way that he smiled as he kissed her, then let go of her lips to instead encircle her with his arms.

* * *

Milly had tears in her eyes as she watched the two just stand there with their arms encircling each other. She smiled, although the smile was filled with bittersweetness for a time when she might have done the same thing with Nicholas.  
  
It was just then that a creaky door interrupted Milly's thoughts. The tall woman turned to see a familiar white haired man breathing heavily. Millions Knives was leaning against the screen door that was in the front of the house in which he and Vash stayed. Milly's eyes turned wide, but not from fear.  
  
"Knives-" she yelled, rushing forward before the very injured man fell to the ground from exhaustion. She caught him just as his body was about an inch away from the wooden boards of the porch.  
  
The Plant's eyes were closed, as he expected death to follow whenever he fell to the ground, as it had so often tried to come for him. After a few moments and no injuries later, he opened his eyes to see a pair of blue eyes looking into his own. Knives blinked as the woman seemed to be gasping for breath.  
  
"You- you saved me," he accused the woman. Milly blinked, then smiled.  
  
"Of course I did, silly. You're Vash's brother."  
  
"Oh." Knives said, his voice acidic and accusing. "So you only did it because I'm Vash's brother," he sighed. "Not for any other reason."  
  
Milly set him down on the porch so that he could lean up against the building's wall, then sat next to him, thinking a moment before answering.  
  
"You know, I thought that at first, too. But... now that I think of it, it's just like my big big sister always said- you should help anyone who's in need of help. And well, when I saw you fall, I didn't think that 'hey, it's Vash's brother'. I just thought you'd need help because, well... you needed help."  
  
Knives digested this for a moment, then looked out in front of him where he saw Vash holding that Meryl woman tightly. He'd come out to ask his brother some questions... and he'd found his answers instead in a simple-minded spider. He looked at the woman sitting next to him.  
  
Ugly long hair and blue eyes- the blue eyes were the only thing he could link to a Plant... but when he thought about it... she had saved him for the fact that he had needed the help- not that he was Vash's brother.  
  
She'd helped him because he'd needed help. Why, then... couldn't he manage to possibly live a life alongside them, if at least one of them seemed to just want to help him?  
  
Like Rem had tried to help him, and failed?  
  
Knives kept these things close to his heart as he looked on upon both Vash and Meryl, who had since separated from their embrace. The Stampede was now placing the ring on her finger, and Millions felt a piece of his heart awaken to something he'd never experienced before.  
  
Love.  
  
For the first time, Knives understood what both Rem and Vash had been trying to tell him- and he'd been too simple minded to understand. For the first time, he completely understood.  
  
And for the first time... he was at peace with himself.

* * *

Standing in the light of the five moons, Vash held Meryl's hand. He had noticed Knives sitting next to Milly nearby, but he did not speak of it, so full was his heart with overwhelming joy. She glanced up at him, and he smiled back down to her.  
  
"Hey, Vash."  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"When you asked me to marry you... did you think I'd answer yes?"  
  
Vash thought a moment, then decided upon being honest. "I honestly didn't know. I'd hoped you would, but I know you worry about Knives and everything-"  
  
"So you honestly didn't know that I'd say yes."  
  
"That's about it."  
  
"You really are a needle-noggin," Meryl smiled as leaned back into his chest and looked into the sky, her dreams now filled and complete.  
  
On the planet Gunsmoke, there lived a man, a myth, a demon that people called Vash the Stampede. Over his travels, he constantly searched for two things; these things were Love and Peace.  
  
When he found the greater of the two is when this man's journey for Love and Peace ended- and the search for Peace began.

* * *

Well, that's about it. Hopefully you enjoyed it enough to read/review!


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